The invention relates to an ultrasound tomography device for producing coronal slice views of female breast tissue.
Ultrasound tomography devices can be operated in accordance with the transmission as well as the reflection method. For example an ultrasound tomography device for transmission tomography (UCTT) is known through U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,018. Ultrasound tomography devices for reflection tomography (UCTR), on the other hand, are known through the essay "Resolution and Image Quality by Ultrasonic Echo Tomography: Experimental Approach" by E. Hundt, G. Maderlechner, E Kronmueller and E. Trautenberg from the "Fifth International Symposium on Ultrasonic Imaging and Tissue Characterization and Second International Symposium on Ultrasonic Materials Characterization", June 1-6, 1980, page 7 and through the essay "Ultrasonic Reflectivity Tomography: Reconstruction with Circular Transducer Arrays" by Stephen J. Norton and Melvin Linzer from "Ultrasonic Imaging 1", 1979, pages 154-184.
However, these known ultrasound tomography devices do not allow scanning close to the breast wall in the sense of generating a coronal slice image of tissue situated close to the breast wall during an examination of a female breast. The dimensions of the ultrasound transmitting/receiving system are such that they interfere with required positioning of the equipment close to the breast wall.
The breast wall is the area which lies generally parallel to and near the chest surface. Coronal slices are plane views of a female breast tissue where the planes are generally oriented parallel to the breast wall.